Wednesday, June 01, 2011

You are Canadien, Not You Are?

I have been asked by The Seattle Times if, as a Canadian, I might offer pointers on hockey "to American rubes," which, I would point out, is a direct quote from The Times reporter, not me. I can't speak to the reporter's characterization of his own countrymen in this case. I use the term "American rubes" only after my regular cavity-search at the border.

I would also say that I find it quaint that Americans, rube-ish or otherwise, believe the stereotype that they have of Canadians. Just because we live in igloos does not mean we all know something about hockey. This would be akin to me randomly phoning up someone in Seattle and asking them, "Hey, you're an American. Give me pointers on military intervention and the overthrow of oil-rich autocracies." I would never presume to typecast people in a country as great and diverse as the U.S., and I'm sure most of you are engrossed in many other pursuits, such as monster truck rallies.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Whenever Canadians get uppity (you know festooning their pot-leaf flag on every spot of their back-pack when overseas) I like to remind them that our jerkwater-berg, which might see a modest flurry every decade) has seen the Stanley Cup more times than their god-forsaken country has in the past 18 years.

Canadians just cannot hold a candle to the storied hockey traditions of North Carolina.

During Gulf War I, a Canadian friend was proud that his country was joining the coalition forces by contributing some ships to the effort. He was wondering where they would send them when I reply "Where ever the Pentagon says." Well, an ex-friend.